Friday Knight Lights wrote:JDCSR wrote:In regard to a third pro team, London Scottish have come out and said they want to be part of the expanded Super 6 in 22/23. Don't think it's a huge leap from there to third pro team if the transition into the Super 6 is succesful.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theoff ... eason/amp/I think is the only realistic option for a third pro team and the timing would hopefully work quite well, by say the 25/26 season you'd hope that we'd have ridden COVID out, the academies, Exiles program and Super 8 will together be churning out more decent quality players and the financial side will be in place.
Still potentially unlikely but I think there is a best case scenario where it pans out nicely.
The problem with LS is the championship is in managed decline by the RFU; hence why they'll allow the involvement of LS in a Scottish competition and essentially outwith RFU funding and control. (And why LS are again happy for increased SRU involvement). So if the RFU did allow LS to compete it would be in a progressively weaker Championship with less funding and no promotion. And they'd never let them into the prem either. So LS isn't a great option.
Equally there's no cash or location for it in Scotland.
Broadly agree re LS. Just to be be clear the pro ( semi pro ) side of LS - London Scottish International Limited, ( LSIL ) is a different entity to the LS Lions, currently in step nine but likely to move up if the season completes, other mens teams, ladies, junior & minis, and these teams will stay under RFU jurisdiction. So however unlikely, technically LS still have the same chance as any other club. But it's LSIL which will it appears go to the Super 8.
The other Championship issue is ground capacity. Scottish have no options that fit the Premiership. Indeed there is no side outside the Premiership with a ground that fits Premiership criteria other than Darlington Mowden Park in Nat 1 ( step three ), who share with the football team. I assume Ealing have a stadium plan for next season ( but we all remember London Welsh bankrupting themselves ), and Doncaster could potentially move in with their local football team. The Stadium for Cornwall is now going to be 6000 capacity on an interim basis and it still hasn't even started, and Jersey have no realistic opportunity to improve their ground unless (as with all Championship teams ) a sugar daddy emerges.
Conor O'Shea is leading an RFU review of the Championship - not clear when the report will be finished. As FKN says, the view is that the Championship will reduce in size, and probably funding, although it's already very low. Can't remember if I put it on here or the Glasgow forum, but as an indication of the not so level Championship / sugar daddy financial playing field, Ealing's DoR is on a higher salary than LS' annual playing budget.